Li Guanqi fixed his eyes on the stage and murmured, “It’s time.”
A girl in blue robes floated gracefully into view. Her icy aura, striking beauty, and elegant curves drew whistles and cheers from the crowd.
She was the Ice Queen of the Soaring Heavens Sect, Ji Linglan.
Ji Linglan gripped an ice-blue sword in her left hand and stared arrogantly at Zhao Beichen. Her voice was calm yet unyielding. “Today, the Soaring Heavens Sect will take the Purple Sun Pavilion’s place.”
Zhao Beichen crossed his arms and smiled, his eyes curving into crescents on his handsome face. “And how will it do that? With just you?”
Ji Linglan drew her sword. A mist of frost spread in a thin veil around her.
A three-chi-wide hologram of a flower made of ice appeared behind her head.
It was the Frost Flower.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Ji Linglan had never revealed the contents of her spirit void before.
Qin Xian frowned. “A special-type spirit void? I didn’t know the Soaring Heavens Sect had also recruited such an extraordinary disciple this year.”
Li Nanting clenched his fists. With his eyes glued to Zhao Beichen, he said, “Even then, she’s not the one we should be watching. It’s Zhao Beichen, the prodigy who emerged out of nowhere in the Purple Sun Pavilion.”
The audience erupted in discussion. Ji Linglan’s rare spirit void artifact left everyone in awe.
Very few people could awaken artifacts in their spirit voids, let alone get an extraordinary one.
Zhao Beichen narrowed his eyes, glancing at the frost gathering on his clothes. He smirked. “A King Spirit Void, huh? Not bad.”
He drew his own blade—dark gold, with faint golden light dancing along its razor-sharp edges. He twirled it a few times with a flick of his wrist, then leaped into action.
All the tiles within a several zhang radius of him exploded.
From the platform above, Li Guanqi’s expression tightened. His chest clenched. “He’s fast!”
Through his heart’s eye, he could only see a blurry shadow.
There was a loud boom, and a bright sword light appeared in front of Ji Linglan.
Cold mist curled around her blade as she raised it to meet the strike. The sheer force of the clash sent her sliding back over a dozen zhang. It lasted only an instant, but the shock was enough to tear the skin between her thumb and forefinger.
Frost bloomed over the wound, sealing it in ice. She cried out, “Frost Step!”
Ice spread beneath her feet. Her speed tripled instantly, and every step across the frozen ground made her faster still.
Zhao Beichen's sword danced freely, unbound by rigid technique. Each strike was lethal, delivered with aggressive, unpredictable angles. He could move his sword as fast as Li Guanqi.
As Ji Linglan defended herself against Zhao Beichen's relentless barrage, she understood what Li Guanqi’s opponents had likely felt. Back then, she hadn’t fully grasped the pressure he exerted.
Now, under the intense flurry of sword lights from Zhao Beichen, she realized just how challenging it was to defend against such an onslaught. His powerful metal vital force was unstoppable and significantly stronger than her vital force.
Ji Linglan began to falter under the onslaught. Zhao Beichen’s blade slipped past her defense, inflicting several cuts.
The Frost Flower hologram flared with dazzling blue light. Ji Linglan’s attacks surged in strength. She slashed at Zhao Beichen’s face, but he dodged, retreating several zhang with a stony expression.
The slash had cut the bridge of his nose, and ice crystals were already forming on it. He slowly plucked the ice crystals off. Warm blood trickled out of the wound.
Zhao Beichen looked down at the red blood on his fingers. His smile turned into ice, and he gradually straightened his back. His face revealed no emotion.
Ji Linglan stood with her sword in hand. Frost swirled around her as she glared at him, her muscles tense as she watched his every move.
Zhao Beichen took a deep breath, then his eyes sprang open.
A golden light covered Zhao Beichen, and a translucent sword hologram shimmered into view. The pressure radiating from him was suffocating. Within ten zhang, the stone tiles cracked and splintered into countless pieces.
Ji Linglan’s pupils dilated in shock. His aura was incredibly powerful.
Li Guanqi stared gravely at Zhao Beichen, realizing he'd underestimated him. Zhao Beichen's actions clearly demonstrated a strength far surpassing Guan Qingyun's. And that was after realizing that Ji Linglan herself was much stronger than Guan Qingyun.
The enormous stage shook. Zhao Beichen stood on the spot and curled his finger, making a beckoning motion.
A hundred golden swords materialized around Ji Linglan, hurtling towards her.
Ice burst from under her feet, spreading thirty zhang in every direction.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions thundered through the stage. Amidst the golden lights, the crowd could see a figure darting to dodge and glints of ice-cold sword light.
The blasts continued for ten whole seconds.
By the end, most of the stage had been reduced to rubble, and a deep crater had formed from the explosions.
Li Guanqi exhaled and muttered, “It’s a spirit spell... One of the first two hundred spells! It looks like spell number 192— Metal Element: Golden Metal Onslaught.”
Each golden spirit sword had struck with the force of a peak Foundation Building cultivator’s full-power strike. It was hard to believe that a single Foundation Building Realm youth could unleash such devastation, and he had done so by merely standing in place and curling a finger.
Despite releasing over a hundred attacks, Zhao Beichen seemed completely calm. Not a hint of exhaustion touched his face, as if he had plenty of vital force to spare. One could only imagine the terrifying size of his dantian.
The audience held their breath, their eyes glued to the cloud of smoke onstage.
A cold flash tore through the haze, and the smoke dispersed.
Despite a dozen wounds, Ji Linglan stood firm, her gaze sharp. She had sealed her wounds with ice, and the Frost Flower hologram behind her vanished, replaced by a Frost Flower mark between her brows.
Over a thousand icicles materialized in the air around her, densely clustered together.
She lunged at Zhao Beichen, and the sea of glinting icicles shot at Zhao Beichen.
Zhao Beichen didn’t flinch, seemingly unbothered.
“It’s time to end this,” he said.